Astrophysical: Black hole physics

  • Publication
    The Faint "Heartbeats" of IGR J17091-3624: An Exceptional Black Hole Candidate
    We report on the first 180 days of Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer observations of the outburst of the black hole candidate IGR J17091-3624. This source exhibits a...
  • Publication
    The Fast Spiral-in of the Companion Star to the Black Hole XTE J1118+480
    We report the detection of an orbital period decay of dot{P}=-1.83+/- 0.66 ms yr-1 in the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1118+480. This corresponds to a period...
  • Publication
    The First Simultaneous X-Ray/Radio Detection of the First Be/BH System MWC 656
    MWC 656 is the first known Be/black hole (BH) binary system. Be/BH binaries are important in the context of binary system evolution and sources of detectable...
  • Publication
    The FR II Broad-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy: PKS J1037-2705
    In this article we demonstrate that PKS J1037-2705 has a weak accretion flow luminosity, well below the Seyfert 1/QSO dividing line, weak broad emission lines...
  • Publication
    The Halo Black Hole X-Ray Transient XTE J1118+480
    Optical spectra were obtained of the optical counterpart of the high-latitude (b~=62deg) soft X-ray transient XTE J1118+480 near its quiescent state (R~=18.3)...
  • Publication
    The Host Galaxies of Radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei: The Black Hole-Galaxy Connection
    We have studied the host galaxies of a sample of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) spanning more than 4 decades in the energy output of the nucleus. The...
  • Publication
    The Impact of the Mass Spectrum of Lenses in Quasar Microlensing Studies. Constraints on a Mixed Population of Primordial Black Holes and Stars
    We show that quasar microlensing magnification statistics induced by a population of point microlenses distributed according to a mass spectrum can be very well...
  • Publication
    The jet-powered optical nebula of Cygnus X-1
    We present Hα and [OIII] (5007 Å) images of the nebula powered by the jet of the black hole candidate and microquasar Cygnus X-1, observed with the 2.5-m Isaac...
  • Publication
    The mass of the black hole in the low-inclination LMXB transient system GRO J0422+32 (=Nova Persei 1992)
    We present the first infrared light curve of GRO J0422+32, and use it along with R-band data and published I- and Cousins R_c-band data to constrain the...